UI/UX Sustainable Design: Best Practices for Applications CO2 Emissions Reduction

Climate change is having a negative impact on the environment, with the ranges of plants and animals shifting, sea levels and temperatures rising, and glaciers melting. Although multiple actions are being considered, the negative impact of carbon emissions on the environment and society are still there. Especially in the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) domain, activities performed on any platform, application, or service requires the use of internet, servers, data centers, or storage warehouses, leading to the production of additional carbon emissions. It is true that the virtual world has a significant impact on the actual world, but how can an application User Experience (UX) and User Interface (UI) designer contribute to this total impact? In this context, the purpose of this manuscript is to provide the principles towards a sustainable environment, analyzing the research efforts towards designing web applications' UX/UI that are environmentally sustainable, and do not produce significant amounts of CO2 emissions. A list of best practices is provided towards these goals, which are being evaluated on top of a web application whose UX/UI has been designed in two (2) versions respecting - or not - these practices. The energy consumption and carbon footprint for both cases is measured, concluding that the provided list of practices is efficient and can be considered as a promising starting point towards a more sustainable future.

I. Introduction

There is no denying that the environment is suffering because of climate change. Sea levels are increasing, the temperature is rising, the glaciers are melting, and the ranges of plants and animals are changing [1]. 2021 was a make-or-break year for climate action, with the window to prevent the worst impacts of climate change closing rapidly, according to a statement from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) [2]. The primary feature of the modern era is the acceleration of climate change, which affects the amount of solar radiation that reaches our planet. The amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) created by human activity is increasing exponentially, causing the planet to warm nearly ten (10) times faster than the typical rate of warming associated with ice ages recovering. It is currently established that increased CO2 emissions and other human activities are to blame for the average surface temperature rise of 1.18 °C since the late 19^th century [3]. The ocean absorbed this extra heat, warming the upper 100 meters of water by more than 0.33 °C since 1969 [4]. Based on available data, the World Health Organization (WHO) projects that between 2030 and 2050, climate change will result in an additional 250.000 deaths annually worldwide [5]. Meanwhile, environmental factors are estimated to be responsible for nearly 20% of deaths in the European Union (EU) [6]. Taken as a whole, the range of published evidence indicates that the net damage costs of climate change are likely to be significant and to increase over time, states the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [7].